Don’t Settle for Simply Put

I saw a lovely tweet the other day. It was from the user @ChelseaParlett and it read, “Don’t confuse things being explained well with things being dumbed down.”

That tweet hit me right between the eyes. As parents of kids with disabilities, we’ve all been in situations where someone uses jargon, and we have to ask them to slow down and help us understand. All so we can effectively understand and serve in the role we need to fulfill. 

Depending on the person sharing the information with us, it might end up being the information is oversimplified for the content to be shared due to a time constraint. Whether it’s translating the information to care for our kids, or maybe it requires action on our part.

We’ve heard over and over again that organizations and providers want to partner with us. We want to be a solid team. But if that’s actually the case, shouldn’t our expectation be that things are explained clearly to us? At what point do the systems we operate in (schools, doctors etc.) try and help us understand things so we can be better partners? 

If we’re expected to explain things clearly when it comes to our kids, then why can't we expect the same kind of courtesy? 

We expect those who serve people with disabilities to explain complex concepts in language we can understand. For generations, parents have complained about the jargon they hear from doctors, teachers or therapists. No more of that. We deserve to have things clearly explained to us without being talked down to! 

Here’s a great video and article on talking with your doctor.